Teaching

Classes taught or able to teach

• Human Anatomy and Physiology (University of Portland, Harvard University)
• Comparative Anatomy and Physiology (University of Portland)
• Python Coding in Biology (University of Portland)
• Comparative Biomechanics (University of Portland)
• Life in Motion (Tufts University)
• Skills for Scientists
• Biology of Birds
• Animal Behavior
• Evolution
• Natural History of the PNW

Philosophy

As an educator, I push beyond content delivery to encourage critical thinking and develop intellectual curiosity, helping advance students as lifelong learners. Using evidence-based teaching practices, I strive to continuously reflect upon and improve my teaching while adapting my courses to the ever-changing needs of students. Some of my major accomplishments teaching undergraduates include:

• Flipping my lecture for Human Anatomy & Physiology 1, enabling the incorporation of student-centered learning in the classroom. During classtime students work through custom, laminated in-class activities (ICAs) as I walk around reviewing their work, identifying misunderstandings, and checking in on their well-being.
• Revamping the Human Anatomy & Physiology 1 lab with the aim of aligning lab content with lecture, and shifting from emphasizing memorization to fostering critical thinking skills and a discovery-based mindset.
• Developing a coding class for Biology majors that helps students grapple with the uncertainty of there not being a single correct answer and the need to troubleshoot your work. In addition to helping students develop transferable problem-solving strategies, our class aimed to empower students with applicable and hirable skills. By catering the coding activities to biological data, our class increased the relevance of these approaches. Several of the students relayed that this course helped them secure job interviews and offers, and many others expressed excitement about applying coding to their undergraduate research projects.

The Importance of Community

I believe that learning does not happen in isolation. Connections with peers in and out of the classroom can bolster learning, and so it is a primary goal of my teaching and service within the department to foster a supportive community. I accomplish this goal by incorporating fun group activities during classtime: in groups of 4 find something you all share in common, or break up a long lab section with a quick round of running though a human tunnel. I couple this with explicit community-building events outside of class: department-wide ice cream socials, a Bioween Haunted House, and a summer Biology Olympics where faculty design biology-related carnival games for the undergraduate research students. In addition to these events, I implement annual rituals, such as a biology-themed graduation cord and associated cord ceremony. This investment in community helps all students develop a fun and productive learning environment, but it is especially impactful for students who may otherwise feel less welcome in academic spaces. We explicitly aim to increase the accessibility of the faculty and academic spaces to students from underepresented racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as to students with neurodiversity and physical disabilities.